Hold You Like I Used To
by darvillers
Summary: Dean Winchester definitely did not cuddle. That is, until he found out that a certain falling Angel's body fits perfectly against his.


Dean Winchester wasn't the cuddling type. He liked hard fucks and quick exits. And it wasn't like his lifestyle left any room for such intimacies anyway. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been in a relationship that didn't start in some seedy bar and end the morning after, with him slipping quietly out the door. Even before that, his relationships hadn't lasted for longer than a few weeks. The way Dean saw it, it was easier this way. Relationships were messy and inconvenient things and he really didn't need another complicated addition to his already messy life.

So no, Dean Winchester definitely did not cuddle. That is, until he found out that a certain falling Angel's body fit perfectly against his.

It had started out innocently enough. Castiel had been helping them with their most recent case, something he did more and more often since he had began falling. Most days he came to tell them about his search for God but he ended up staying to help.

After a few days of poking around they thought they had it all figured out and were planning on leaving Providence that night after they ganked the witch. But then they came across a clue that completely threw them off. They were back to square one with people still dying every day so they decided to pull an all-nighter at the local library to try to get back on track. The faster they figured this out, the faster they would be able to kill the thing and leave.

Around 2 am, Castiel had started nodding off into the book in his hand. His eyes would flutter closed against his will and his head would would slowly tilt forward, until he would lift it again with a jerk. The fifth time it happened, Dean took pity on the poor guy. They hadn't realized he needed to sleep yet and going by the half-annoyed, half- surprised look on Cas' face, he hadn't either.

"Sam," Dean whispered, as he watched Cas trying to stay awake for what seemed like the millionth time, " I think I should just take him back to the motel. Can you finish up here?"

"Yeah. Yeah, he looks beat. Go. I'll call you when I find the last ingredient we need for the spell." He whispered back, eyeing Castiel's worn face and half-closed eyes. Dean walked up to Castiel's side of the table and shook him gently with a whispered "hey".

"C'mon, buddy. You need to get some rest," he said as he lifted Cas onto his feet and slipped the angel's arm around his own shoulders with one arm circling his waist. He was pliant in Dean's arms, opening his eyes to grumble incoherently before they slipped close again. He half dragged the mostly unconscious pile of angel out of the library and out to the Impala.

Castiel only startled awake when the chilly night air hit his face and looked up at Dean unlocking the Impala.

"I thought we were doing research, Dean." he said, voice slurred with sleep.

"Yeah, Sammy is. You, my friend, need to catch some zzzs," he replied, pushing him into the car and getting in on the other side.

"Angels don't need sleep," he muttered back halfheartedly before promptly falling asleep, his head slumped against the door. Dean chuckled softly to himself at that and drove out of the parking lot.

By the time he had managed haul Castiel out of the car, up the motel stairs and into their room, he was out of breath.

Man, Angels were _heavy_.

The two of them were a jumble of awkward limbs he didn't begin to know how to untangle with Castiel's head lolling forward on his shoulders.

"Cas. Cas, wake up for a second. We need to get you into the bed." he said, shaking him slightly.

He was simply met with an annoyed grumble as Cas slumped closer into his side. Dean sighed and decided to try his best without Cas's help. He lowered the Angel onto the bed slowly, trying to untangle his arms and legs in the process. But that only succeeded in pushing him down with Cas, tipped forward by his weight. Next thing he knew he was lying next to a sleeping Cas with his arm hopelessly trapped under his waist. Their legs were tangled together, one under and between the other's in a mess of limbs. Castiel had pressed closer to him in the process, flush against his chest with his head on his shoulder.

"Cassss," he hissed, trying to ignore a sudden rush of blood somewhere inappropriate(what the fuck?) and squirm away. Cas opened his eyes slightly, looking completely innocent, the bastard, and pressed even closer against him. He looked up at Dean with bleary eyes that could definitely be called puppy-dog, a certain disarmed courage in them that wouldn't have existed if he wasn't half asleep.

"Stay." he whispered, voice gruff with sleep, blowing a hot breath into his neck that made him shiver for all the wrong reasons.

"Stay." he said again, louder, and wound his arm over Dean's waist, as if to seal his command.

Dean thought about how weird this was. Cas was his friend for christ's sake. Friends didn't do things like this. But it didn't feel weird or uncomfortable, this place next to Cas. It felt strangely comfortable, the two of them fitting together seamlessly, as if they had done this before. It shouldn't feel this easy, he thought. But it did and Dean decided to not question it. There was a lot of shit they needed to question with the apocalypse hanging over their heads but this, this was something he could let go. This was something he could let himself have, even though he hadn't known he wanted it. But now that he had it, god, he did. He liked the feel of Cas next to him, all soft and human at the edges where he was starting to blur between Angel and something closer. He liked the look of peace on Castiel's face, a look lost in the pain and intensity of his expressions when he was awake. He was every bit the Angel, almost cherubic with his eyes closed and mouth hanging slightly open. He liked every bit of and wanted it and more with a sudden intensity. So he told his brain to shut up for a second and took it.

He relaxed his body, a sudden wave of exhaustion hitting him and threw his other arm over Cas, completing the cacoon of them. Cas let out of a content sigh at that, a sound that warmed him all the way to his toes. Feeling brazen, he pushed Cas's hair back and pressed a quick kiss against his forehead before his brain kicked in and told him to stop being such a girl.

Yeah," he whispered a little late, "Yeah, Cas. I'll stay."


End file.
